Literally “fire meat” in Korean, bulgogi has become one of my favorite ulam (Tagalog for main dish). As a meat lover, I love the bulgogi using the thin sliced rib eye Thinly Sliced Bulgogi Recipe, due to its ease of marinating and cooking. The sweet, yet savory bulgogi marinade is an amazing compliment to steamed veggies or rice. I will admit though, that as good as the thinly sliced rib eye can be, we all long for a little change up, every now and then. I came up with a delicious recipe that substitutes ground beef for the rib eye. As mentioned in the Thinly Sliced Bulgogi Recipe, that dish is somewhat a novelty experience. With ground beef as the star, it is more of a comfort food. Over steamed rice and topped with an over easy egg, the Ground Beef Bulgogi Bowl will become an instant favorite.
Ingredients
Not only do I love their flavors but fresh garlic, ginger and green onions have aromas that instantly makes me salivate. All three are ingredients that I use on a regular basis and I would recommend growing in your garden. Of the three, garlic would be the most difficult but certainly not impossible. Green onion would be the easiest. The best part is that all three can be rooted and grown from the produce that you buy at the grocery store. Highly recommended if you love cooking!
If you do Asian cooking on a regular basis, you probably already have soy sauce in your pantry. Although, you may have to visit the Asian market to pick up the secret ingredient of the recipe. I like adding a touch of fine Korean Gochugaru for a nice spice to it. Nothing to take away from the taste, but just a little to add another element to each bite. By all means, if you want to add more of a kick, then add a bit more. Stick with this ingredient too. Some may say that chipotle, cayenne or paprika are suitable substitutes but I disagree.
Also, grab some sesame seeds too. I like getting the packages that are cleaned and ready to go. This will save you some time before roasting them. Lastly, if you don’t have any sesame oil at home, grab a can or bottle.
To round off the ingredients, you more than likely have brown sugar and water at home. For brown sugar, light is fine to use. Dark brown sugar will give you a little more of a molasses flavor. Either light or dark will give you the sweetness that you want.
I mix everything together, except for the sesame seeds (which I use as topping) to create our tasty bulgogi flavor for the ground beef bowl.
Beauty of Ground Beef
When marinating other meats, there is a wait time that has to be considered. Not just a wait time but also a max time. With ground beef that wait time is no longer an issue. You can mix the ingredients into the ground beef and immediately cook it. Also, with the ratio of soy sauce and water that I have with this recipe, you don’t have to worry about over marinating your ground beef. This allows you the flexibility to get dinner ready for tonight or prepare for tomorrow.
Getting the Flavors Together
In a big enough bowl that will fit 2 lbs of ground beef, mix together brown sugar, gochugaru, soy sauce, sesame oil and water. Mix well enough to break apart brown sugar.
Next add smashed garlic, ginger slices and chopped green onions and mix well. If you want, save some green onions for topping it off before eating. I keep my ginger in slices because not everyone in the household likes to bite into ginger. This makes it easier to set aside, but feel free to mince your ginger.
Now take your ground beef and mix the ingredients into it well.
Cooking
You may notice that your ground beef is on the runny side. Once the heat penetrates through your pan, your ground beef will render even more liquid. No worries! This plays part in the way you are going to cook this dish.
You’re going to set your pan at a medium heat. I have my electric stove at 5, at most 6. Cooking oil is not needed, due to the fat content of the ground beef. Once set and heated, place your ground beef in the pan. Spread it out evenly but don’t chop or stir it up like the regular browning process. Your going to let the bottom cook up a bit as the meat sits in the rendering fat and marinade. In essence, you are doing a bit of a braising process with your ground beef. This will tenderize your ground beef a little, taking it away from that browning texture. Bites will resemble minced rib eye instead.
Allow the bottom to cook for about 5 – 10 minutes and then flip it over in sections, still refrain from mixing it up, as when browning. You want to flip it when the bottom gains some texture, not to the point of crusting. Keep that braising processes going. Your Ground Beef Bulgogi Bowl is almost ready. If you have yet to cook rice, go ahead and do that now.
Again, for the second side, just let it sit for 5 – 10 minutes, allowing it to slowly cook and soak up the flavor. Remember, just enough to get a texture on the bottom but not to the point of crusting.
Now that you have a more solid top and bottom, roughly break apart the ground beef. Do this by splitting the bottom half from the top half. Through the uncooked center. It’s better with a good mixture of bigger, bite sized pieces rather than small. Turn your heat down to 4 or 5 and let it let it soak up some goodness. At this low temp you can give it an occasional stir. There should be enough liquid in your pan to not let it burn or crust on the bottom.
Toasted Sesame Seeds
As the ground beef sits and simmers, now is a good time to toast some sesame seeds. I like toasting sesame seeds for this recipe because the give a nice little crunch to the tenderized ground beef. Along with chopped green onions, not only will they add another level of flavor and texture, these toppings will also make your bowl look like it was prepared by a pro.
Depending on how many bowls you are making or how many people like sesame seeds, it is good to just go with increments of 1 tablespoon. Remember, it is just a topping to accentuate the texture of the dish. Preheat a small frying pan at a medium heat. Once the surface of the an is nice and hot, pour in seeds. Toasting seeds will not take long (3-5 minutes). Stir with a bamboo spoon or swirl and toss, if the pan is small and light enough. You’ll know when they are toasted enough when you start smelling the nutty aroma of the seeds. Visually, they will be golden. Remove from heat as soon as they are done.
Serving
You can serve the ground beef bulgogi right from the pan with a slotted spoon or you can drain the remaining liquid/fat from the pan. I keep my ginger slices big to remove them before serving. As I mentioned before, you can mince your ginger if you want to keep it in the final dish.
Place one scoop of rice in a bowl and top it with a serving of the bulgogi. Top with a sprinkle of the toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion. This is a good meal but to take it to the next level, place an over easy egg over the bulgogi and then top with the toasted seeds and green onion. This is the amazing Ground Beef Bulgogi Bowl.
Meokja!
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13
Ground Beef Bulgogi Bowl
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Frying pan big enough for 2 lbs of ground beef
- Small frying pan
- Measuring Cups (½, ¾) and Spoons (tsp and Tbsp)
- Mixing spoon and cooking spatula
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef 80% or 85% is fine
Bulgogi Marinade
- ½ Cup Brown Sugar
- 5 Cloves Smashed Garlic
- 3 Stalks Chopped Green Onion
- 1 Thumb Sized Ginger Slices
- 1 tsp Gochugaru
- 4 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- ¾ Cup Soy Sauce
- ¾ Cup Water
Toppings
- 2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
- 2 Stalks Chopped Green Onion
- Over Easy Eggs *Optional
Instructions
- Place all ingredients of the marinade in a mixing bowl. Mix well.
- Thoroughly mix in ground beef. This can be done with a spoon but by hand is the best.
- Preheat a frying pan at a medium low heat.
- Add marinated ground beef once pan is heated to temp. and carefully spread over the surface, but do not stir or chop up, as when when browning.
- Allow bottom to cook (5 - 10 minutes) just until it forms some texture and not to the point of crusting.
- It is easier to flip ground beef over in three sections. Still refrain from stirring or chopping up the ground beef.
- Allow bottom to cook (5 - 10 minutes) just until it forms some texture and not to the point of crusting.
- Reduce heat to medium low. Now that you have a cooked top and bottom, break up the ground beef into chunks by splitting it down the uncooked center. Bigger bite sized chunks are better.
- Allow time to simmer to tenderize and soak up the flavor. Occasionally, gently stir until serving. (15-20 minutes)
Roasting Sesame Seeds
- Preheat a small frying pan at a medium heat.
- Place sesame seeds into the pan when pan is heated to temp.
- Either carefully toss and swirl seeds by using the pan handle or by using a wooden spoon (3-5 minutes). Remove from heat by placing the seeds in a small serving bowl.
Serving
- Either drain or serve ground beef using a slotted spoon. Place serving over a bowl of steamed rice. Topping this with an over easy egg is delicious but optional. Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion and serve.